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Having computer issues.
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Looks like I'm down for the count.
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(I'll be back, eventually!)

p.s. I forgot it was St. Patrick's Day today. I sent my 3rd grader to school with no green! What kind of mother am I???!!!

Brain Injury Awareness

March is National Brain Injury Awareness Month.
You can click on the banner at the top of the page (no longer active) for more information.

I am involved with Brain Injury because our oldest son, Curtis, suffered a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) in a car accident in 2006.

There are a couple of publications at the AZ Governor's Council website that you can print off and keep with medical/first aid items. They are not just specific to Arizona. I give these out quite a lot.

These are pdf files. Click on the links below. (Links have been fixed)

When Your Child's Head Has Been Hurt
Post-Concussive Symptomatology Checklist

Are You Worried About Your Head or Brain?

Texas Caviar Salsa

This is some yummy stuff!
I got this recipe from my friend, Sharla. Some of my favorite recipes are from her.

Texas Caviar Salsa

1 can black eyed peas, drained

1 can Rotel tomatoes-not drained

(mild or spicy, depending on your preference)

1 bell pepper, chopped

red onion, chopped (amount at cook's discretion)

1 pkg. frozen petite corn, thawed

Cilantro, chopped

1 small bottle Italian salad dressing

Toss all ingredients together. Chill. Serve with tortilla chips.

*My notes:

I use the regular Rotel, not the spicy. You can also add some heat with a couple of shakes of Tabasco/Hot sauce.

I only use about 1/2 -2/3 a pkg of corn.

We are not cilantro lovers (sorry, Connie) so I only use a couple of small handfuls of cilantro. That's the great thing about this recipe...adjust it to your family's taste!

Did I mention...yummy?

WinterSpring

Oh, Mother Nature!

You tickle our fancy with

Hopes of Spring-then snow.

Q & A

Wherein I attempt to answer a few questions from my previous post, in the most random, choppy way I can! (Cupcakes and outhouses and spiders???)


First things first... An Old Fashioned Girl

Of course there are cupcakeries in Arizona. Ever heard of Sprinkles? Anyone? Anyone?
I never had a cupcake there, because my cupcake obsession didn't really start until just before we moved...but really picked up steam once Camille someone introduced me to a couple of local Utah bakeries.

This is a picture of our bathroom now. Okay, just kidding...but if you want to see a stunning bathroom makeover, go here:




We moved to Arizona in 2005 for a job transfer. I cried. Alot!
We lived in Gilbert, just a few miles south of the Mesa Temple.
After a few years, when the move looked to be permanent, we decided to buy a new home, closer to Rick's work.
The week we signed closing docs on that house...Rick was given the opportunity to come back to Utah...

It was a hard decision. I cried some more! We decided to accept the offer and then the company drug things out for over a year. Yay!

We finally moved back to Utah in August, 2009! That's where we are now...for good, I hope!

We had to do a short sale on our house, that's why it took so long. The housing market in AZ is terrible! Home values have dropped drastically, that's why the house was so "cheap".

In the last five years, we have lived in 2 states, 4 cities, 4 houses and been in 5 different wards!
It's been CRAZY!!! No wonder I'm a little stressed, eh? (I picked up a Canadian "accent" from Curtis' neuropsychologist...that just means I say "eh" a lot now!)

And yes, there are lots of black widows in Arizona. In our last house, in Goodyear...it was a more rural area, plus the home had been vacant for several months. So, we had lot of crickets and black widows. The widows would spin webs all down the sides of our house, off of patio furniture, anywhere they could find a suitable place. Every few days, "we" (Rick) would go out and stomp the spiders and knock the webs down. Widows are nocturnal, so we'd have to wait until evening to get rid of them.

We also had lots of crickets...yuck! I only saw 2 cockroaches the whole time we lived in Arizona.

Well, except for the roach infested hotel we stayed at in 2005 while we waited to close on our house. Now that was a hotel! Yeah, we left once we discovered the roaches.

Is that it? Did I get everything? I had more that I wanted to say...but it will have to wait for another post...another time. (Just a couple of A-ha moments I've had recently pertaining to uh...menopause/stress/life!)

For now, I'm headed to do some more unpacking/organizing...because after 5 years I am sick and tired of all these boxes!!! (We never finished unpacking from the initial move to AZ, because Curtis was in a car accident and after that, nothin' got done! :)